someone might still say its not cheating, its helping each other, but the rule about 'if you fail to tell the right answer, you have to redo it' is totally meaningless. for the measuring task, the could have used that device on the bike. I don't blame the teams who helped each other, i blame those who design leg 9. But after all, Jet made two mistakes: one for getting lost and one for leaving Gary.

But at least I've learned something from TAR 18, its always good to think like a lawyer. play smart!I actually start to like Zev and Justin, they are really good American people!

I think it was a poorly designed leg with respect to the Roadblock, Detours and position of the W-turn.

Roadblock - I like the task, but it is a huge penalty that required and extra 44 km (minimum) for each time you made a mistake. Had multiple teams got the answer wrong the first time, it would have split the field. I suspect the TAR Producers hoped for a field split vs. one team being left behind.

Detour - Good tasks because they took a similar amount of time (comparing Zev/Justin and Keisha/Jen)

W-Turn - If 2 teams had been U-Turned, this would have worked much better and given us some drama. It is sad when a team had no chance to make up any time after being Detoured.

Designing tasks can never account for the skills and behaviors of the racers.

The rules need to be changed, the cowboys were eliminated due to the winners giving the 22km answer not just to the sister's, but also to a team that had not even completed the task - a lost globetrotter back at the start point. Then the globetrotter gives the answer to another team. Cooperation is one thing but giving the answer to teams that have not completed the task! There should be penalties given. The Cowboys played the game with honesty and integrity, never having to insult or make snide remarks about other teams. We can only hope they get another chance one day.

I suggest you read one of the exit interviews the cowboys gave in which they mention they would have loved to be part of the information-sharing. Apparently they only "played with honesty and integrity" because nobody offered the answer to them.

Not a fan of Jets...at all, but I did respect the way he answered that question. He basically said that he wasnt going to complain about the information sharing, because if info had been offered to him, he would have taken it gladly, so he wont complain that others did.

That's my point, why are the fans so enraged about this whole business? Though it seems kind of appropriate that both times the Cowboys "lost" were due to other teams "cheating", yet nobody complained about sharing info when the exact same thing happened to Ron in India (deciding to do the task himself while other teams worked together).

Logged

The story so far:In the beginning the Universe was created.This has made a lot of people very angry and has been widely regarded as a bad move

I think everyones too nice this season. Even if your in the front of the pack, use the frickn' U-Turn. The 3-way team friendship/alliance of Zev/Justin, Kisha/Jen and Herb/Nate annoys me. I think allanices are only helpful during u-turn legs. Gary/Mallory love everyone. Kent/Visxyn are probaly used to being outcasts, unfournatly.

The thing is that I can't remember a season where the "information sharing" went to the actual tasks, as opposed to route marker/travel schedule information sharing. And to the extent we've seen this season. True, there have been occasions when a team helped another team actually complete the task, but this season we saw certain teams short-circuiting the efforts required to complete some of the tasks because they were told specifically the answer needed to complete a roadblock or a detour task without having to at least try and complete it themselves.

It's a disturbing development, and it gets away from the expectation that teams should focus on R-A-C-I-N-G.

What bothers me is not the info sharing per se...that can be good strategy.

It is that the clue specifically said to use a map and an odometer to arrive at the correct answer.

So using info acquired in another way is NOT following the instructions.

If the clue had said "travel on foot", and someone took a taxi...there would be a penalty.

This seems no different to me.

Logged

"Our fans are pretty good. They don't give away too much. Sometimes people love dropping spoilers, but our fans are good. They tend to do it in such a way that doesn't ruin it for fans who don't want to know."--Phil Keoghan

Peach, I think you and I are getting to the same place from two slightly different directions; the bottom line is that something did get out of alignment this season, and this point seems to be "it."

This is a consequence of having repeat contestants. With the exception of Gary and Mallory, all the other teams have been appearing at various fan events and have gotten to know each other. They have formed friendships and acquaintances and that makes it more difficult to say no if someone is asking for help. Next season, when we get back to first time racers, there should be a lot less information sharing. That will be good because all the sharing of answers has bugged me during a number of episodes this season.

I think the word everyone is looking for is collusion...........but I blame Production for it, not the racers. Good leg design/bad execution.

We as viewers were robbed of a potentially epic RB.......up there with the haybales, the cavier, the Argentine bar b que and the cliff ascending.........WE WAS ROBBED.

They could have made the RB so that only Marco had to look at the odometer. If it didn't say 22km, then they had to go back to the start and have the bike mechanic reset it to 0. Then try again........

They could have done the same with the first RB in Sydney too......just have each team decypher a separate message...........

Lazy, lazy production............shame shame shame. Such a high potential for mayhem and so disappointing in the end.

Dr Rox, I don't know at this point who should be blamed. I do know I haven't seen anything like this in any prior season, not even during All Stars when Rob and Amber will Racing for the second time, and it is a negative development.

I agree DrRox, I fully expected to see the moped task exactly that way. The fact that they could scribble down the answer given to them by another player was a surprise. The cowboys elimination aside, it absolutely does take away from the suspense.I am still interested to see how FT ended up driving by that post office anyway. There certainly do seem to be some fishy elements this year.